The play, evidently printed from a much altered and probably illegible
manuscript, abounds in errors of every description. The following list
is confined to such readings as are to some extent doubtful in the
original and to a few literal misprints which might otherwise perhaps
be thought due to the reprint. No irregularities recorded by previous
editors are included. No variations of any importance have been found
between the two copies collated.
3 _plac’st_
36 deele
65 because
88 Idy
109 mifled
120 _Attus_
203 choyseff (ff _broken_, _read_ choysest)
316 drie (? _read_ dire)
323 c.w. _X. of S._
334 Beheld
_Venns_
373 moaths
440 autthoritie
482 bettet,
493 _Steu._
611 Os
618 _Ba._
643 part,
646 theworld,
648 weele (_perhaps_ we ele)
655 Simi Ranus,
661 _Simeranus_,
675 _king_,
691 wrethednesse:
702 _eate._
742 loure,
757 louer
765 _letter._
784 hath
801 what
834 doo shifting,
880 _Ateu._ (perhaps _Ate u._)
918 denoũced, it
983 same.)
988 to ... too
996 nye. (_perhaps_ ny e.)
1019 consider
1026 tryees
1028 step (_perhaps_ ste p)
1030 becauso
1045 sings.
1048 loue
1078 ean (e _not absolutely certain, read_ can)
1094 Bur
1159 Thon
1163 _Exennt._
1175 the
1183 thee
1190 _Slip._ (there is a faint trace of the _i_ in the Dyce
copy only)
1192 _Sip._
1205 viutnerd (_original_ viutnerd)
1213 _Guatoes_
1268 thon (_original_ tho@n@)
1279 (fe-)re ie. (_space not certain_)
1292 the (_perhaps_ th e)
1294 your (_perhaps_ y our)
1324 bettet
1332 yout
1355 esteemd, (_original_ esteemd‘)
1367 _ic pour._ Yea
1370 mee,
1378 woman, (_comma not quite certain_)
1398 Court,,
1399 stricknesse
1405 mstaled:
1411 preuention you (_original_ preuent ion you)
1423 _Nauo._
1424 shildish
1433 appooued
1449 displac’ff, (ff _broken, read_ displac’st,)
1451 _Auteukin_,
1464 bnt
speakie
1497 are
1504 Mistresle
1511 you, drawe a
1546 _Exeuut._
1607 Prepare (_cf. c.w._)
1621 Hart,
1626 (indentation doubtful)
1626, 1627 _Deiu_,
1637 (_speaker’s name omitted_)
_ditte_
1644 _tout, vn_
1646 fllattering
1681 thee Shoo-maker.
1702 progenators _Cutler_.
1706 edge,
1713 a (_failed to print in the B.M. copy_)
1720 Ohn, o (_read_ Oh, no)
1763 thing:
1777 fals
1789 _strumpet, ta Matressa_
1790 _foy_
1791 _me_
1796 _morglay_,
1799 soule, (_the comma failed to print in the Dyce copy_)
1801 stay.
1803 _Ie meu_
1845 alreadle
1848 _For_
1863 alosse,
1897 on
1908 missed, (ss _broken, read_ misled,)
1917 ouerthtow.
1924 slrange (_read_ strange)
1990 wartes:
1993 _Dambac_
2000 slaine. (sl _not quite certain, possibly broken_ ss)
2002 but
2007 _Doro,_
2019 effate: (ff _broken, read_ estate:)
2024 but on the (_perhaps_ buton th e)
2037 _Nana_,
2060 _fontre_
2092 purschase
2101 place (_read_ plow)
2113 Lyon, (king
2114 slaine? (sl _not certain, perhaps broken_ ss)
2142 _Exeunt_, (original _Exeunt_, or _Fxeunt_, apparently the
latter, but the letter may be a broken E)
2144 state, (_so the Dyce copy, the B.M. copy apparently has a
full point, but this is probably a broken comma_)
2162 sect,
2166 countriees (_first_ e _not quite certain, possibly_ c)
2169 toexcept:
2182 greatmens
2189 guise, (_perhaps_ gu ise,)
2204 warre?
2215 summonies
2241 ofcontention:
2254 true,
._Exeun_.. (what appears like a full point after the _n_
may be the remains of a very broken _t_)
2260 sarre
_Twearde._
2283 mistresse:
2294-5 he ... she
2300 Alhough
2310 Qeene,
2331 change,
2355 these (_perhaps_ th ese)
2370 wasmisled, (sl _not quite certain, possibly broken_ ss)
2383 _K. of S._ (apparently _S:_ in the B.M. copy, but the upper
dot is accidental)
2424 (indentation doubtful)
2426 for (_perhaps_ fo r)
2438 ttumpets
2443 _Cutber tohis_
2463 Scortish
2509 missed: (ss _broken, read_ misled:)
2522 Thou (_original_ Tho@u@)
2540 our (_perhaps_ ou r)
2545 ffaies, (ff _broken, read_ staies,)
2547 reeoncile
2562 _Auteukin_,
2579 when,
In ll. 1062, 1090 the speaker’s name is given as ‘_8. Atten._’ Whatever
this may be meant for it is clear that the speeches belong to the
Bishop of St. Andrews. In ll. 2015-6 a complicated error has occurred,
the ‘e’ of ‘her’ in the lower line having worked its way up into an
accidental space after the ‘d’ of ‘and’ in the upper.
LIST OF CHARACTERS
in order of appearance.
_In the Induction and Chorus_:
OBERON, king of fairies.
BOHAN, a Scot.
SLIPPER } his sons.
NANO }
an antic (dance), fairies, a dancer ‘boy or wench’.
_In the Dumb Shows_:
SEMIRAMIS, queen of Assiria.
STABROBATES, king of India.
CYRUS, king of Persia.
OLIVE PAT, (?).
ALEXANDER, king of Macedon.
SESOSTRIS, king of Egypt.
_In the Play_:
The King of SCOTS.
The King of ENGLAND.
DOROTHEA, his daughter, wife of the King of Scots.
The Countess of ARRAN.
IDA, her daughter.
ATEUKIN (or GNATO).
ANDREW SNOORD, a servingman.
SLIPPER, a clown.
NANO, a dwarf.
Sir BARTRAM, a Scottish gentleman.
Sir EUSTACE (DICK), an English gentleman.
(A Servant of Sir Bartram.)
The Bishop of SAINT ANDREWS.
Earl DOUGLAS.
Lord MORTON.
a Purveyor.
JAQUES, a Frenchman.
Lord Ross.
a Huntsman.
a Tailor.
a Shoemaker.
a Cutler.
Sir CUTBERT ANDERSON.
Lady ANDERSON.
a Servant of the Countess of Arran.
a Lawyer.
a Merchant.
a Divine.
a Scout.
Lady Douglas, Sir Egmond, Lord Percy, Samles, an English Herald, lords,
ladies, huntsmen, soldiers, antics.
In V. iii the speeches of the King of England have the prefix ‘Arius’
(ll. 2095, 2105, 2126, 2129), a name which in a stage-direction in II.
ii (l. 1050) is apparently applied to the King of Scots. Ateukin (twice
misprinted ‘Auteukin’, ll. 1451, 2562) is repeatedly called Gnato,
which would seem to have been the original name of the character,
subsequently altered, for in I. i ‘Ateukin’ several times scans as a
dissyllable (ll. 355, 362, 365). Twice Ateukin and Gnato are mentioned
together in a stage-direction (ll. 1550, 2053), apparently through
misunderstanding of an alteration. Sir Eustace, who is also addressed
as Lord Eustace, is several times called Dick (ll. 565, 568, 571,
601, 608, 629). One speech (l. 629) assigned to him, clearly belongs
to a servant, who has therefore been added to the characters. In II.
ii Nano is throughout called ‘Dwarfe’ except in the exit at l. 1049.
Andrew’s surname appears from l. 551. The name of the King of Fairies
is Oberon: ‘Oboram’ on the title and ‘Obiran’ in l. 1934. seem to be
mere misprints, and ‘Obiron’ (ll. 1164, 1923, 1931) a sporadic variant.
In l. 2 his name is given as ‘After Oberõ’, but this is most likely a
misprint for ‘_after_ Oberõ’. Dyce supposed that Oberon entered at l.
2398, and Grosart assumed that ‘Adam’ was the name of the actor who
played the part, but it is more likely to be a compositor’s misreading
of ‘A danc(e)’. At l. 1953 the direction ‘Ladie Anderson ouerheares’ is
due to a misunderstanding; it should be ‘Sir Cutbert’. Lady Douglas and
Sir Egmond are mentioned in l. 1606 as present, but nothing further is
known of them: Lord Percy and Samles enter in V. iii (l. 2094), and the
former again in V. vi (l. 2407), also the English herald in V. vi (l.
2338), but none of them speak. Nano does not speak in the Induction.
In l. 656 (cf. 666) the form ‘Staurobates’, in place of Stabrobates,
proves that Greene drew from Poggio’s Latin translation of Diodorus
Siculus and not from the original.
The text of the play contains nothing to identify either the English or
the Scottish king, and the date 1520 given in the Induction is seven
years after the death of James IV at Flodden.
* * * * *
The two collotype plates represent A2 recto (title page) and A3 recto
in the Dyce copy of the original.